


Phantom Limb

by InkandOwl



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Light Angst, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 17:10:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18899023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkandOwl/pseuds/InkandOwl
Summary: “You should let me poke around in your brain.” Koracick points a replica mandible at Nico, “I bet we’ll find alien tech in there.” He winks then.“You’ve never seen anything like this?” It’s a little worrying, hearing from a seasoned neurosurgeon that his problem is unheard of.Tom shrugs, “Wouldn’t know, you won’t let me see it.” He digs a freeze dried blackberry out of a silver bag then, “I’ve seen tumors, parasites, bruises, bleeding, etcetera, etcetera. Listen, son, you’re fine. That’s Schmitt kid though? Blood’s not my bag.”Nico doesn't have a soul mark, but he does have a terrible illness that he can't seem to pinpoint





	Phantom Limb

**Author's Note:**

> This fandom deserves a soulmate AU! Come hang out with my on tumblr at inkandowl

The plastic on the cup clicks against Nico’s teeth as he stares ahead into the water. The sun is blinding against it. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Link casts his line into the ocean and leans back in the seat. There’s no way his fishing rod is equipped for saltwater, but here they are. 

Nico’s not fishing, he’s just here for the company and the drinks, “What do you think of the intern— Schmitt?” 

Link screws his nose up, either in deep thought, or against the sun, or a combination of both, “Short? With glasses?” Nico just hums in agreement, “He’s got a great head of hair.” Link concedes. 

There’s a storm rolling in, grey skies crawling towards the port, but neither of them are quite ready to move. “Do you think he has a mark? Or a soulmate?” Nico does look over at Link then, whose eyes widen dramatically and he huffs out a laugh. 

“That’s a really weighty thing to just be slinging around about an intern you’ve only ever worked with three times. Have you ever even talked to him outside of a medical setting?” Link isn’t wrong. Marks are the norm— something that shows up during puberty, but everyone still treats them like something to giggle over as if they’re in a middle school sleepover. Nico doesn’t _have_ a mark— which isn’t the norm but it’s not unheard of and it gets him sympathy laid sometimes. 

He throws back the rest of his beer, “We’ve talked. Sort of.” He sets the cup down on the cement of the dock. “He let me borrow a pen from him so I could finish charts and he laughed at my joke about Webber’s disappointed face.” 

Link studies him for a long moment, nodding silently, “What’s his first name?” It’s on his badge that he keeps clipped on his pocket, but the writing is tiny and Nico hasn’t found an excuse to get close enough yet. Maybe he can borrow another pen and drop it. Then he can get a better look. Nico scratches at the bridge of his nose and very pointedly doesn’t answer. “It’s Levi, by the way. You know, so you can write it in little hearts all over your trapper keeper.”

Nico wants to be aggravated at the comment, but he’s not wrong and it makes him laugh, “I don’t know, there’s just something about him. I feel like I have a crush on the football captain again and I just want him to let me sit at his lunch table so I can listen to him talk.” 

He’s known Link long enough and heard him say plenty of his own embarrassing shit, that it doesn’t faze him to admit it. Link laughs, but it’s not cruel, “I don’t think Schmitt was the captain of the football team. Maybe chess.” They both turn their attention back towards the storm, “He does have a mark, I saw it when he was changing into his scrubs on Wednesday in the locker room.” Link reaches behind himself to indicate the space between his shoulder blades, “It’s pretty, delicate looking. It’s small too, I thought it was a birthmark at first, it’s brown.” 

Some marks are black— obvious lines that indicate soulmates. There’s a subtlety to the ones that nearly blend into skin though. 

Nico has met a lot of people. He hadn’t even known Levi’s name until five minutes ago, but the idea that there’s someone out there to perfectly fit into his universe, makes Nico feel awfully lonely. “We should head back before it starts raining.” 

 

X.

 

Nico is looking at the x-ray of a woman with Harrington rods in her spine when he hears someone clear their throat lightly behind him. His nerves feel alight over the back of his scalp and he shivers. “Dr. Schmitt.” He doesn’t need to turn around. 

Levi lets out a nervous laugh, “Well, I’m not really a doctor yet, but— hey, how did you know it was me?” 

This is the most amount of words Nico’s ever heard from him, and he does turn around then, “Saw your reflection in the side of the lightbox.” It’s a complete lie, but Levi just stares at him like it’s the most impressive thing he’s ever heard. “What can I help you with?” 

He works really hard on a smile that doesn’t come off as predatory, but Nico’s really suffering right now, so he can’t be blamed for whatever his face does. Levi holds up a tome of paper, “Dr. Lincoln told me that you could use some help on the scoliosis case, and I need more ortho hours before I pick my specialty.” He lights up when he talks and Nico has to remind himself that he’s a grown man and he’s not going to swoon. 

“Oh, well— I’d be happy to teach you.” Nico moves his chair aside so that Levi can take the seat next to him. He’s going to have to thank Link later for this. 

Nico pulls up the images of the incision on their patients back. A scar that’s healing nicely, but unfortunately ran right through the center of her soul mark. “That must’ve been hard for her.” Levi says it quietly, like he’s not quite talking to Nico, and he pulls his bottom lip between his teeth, “I think it would really mess with me if I had to cut up my mark.” 

It happens all the time in their field, because unfortunately— people have to go under the knife without concern for the surface of their body. “It’s still there, and she’s already married. Her health is more important.” 

This will always be a subject that Nico bristles about. He’s told constantly that it’s fine that he doesn’t have a mark. That these things don’t mean he won’t find love. 

And then everyone goes on and on about the romance of having one. 

Levi tenses up, eyes wide behind his glasses, “Oh, I know, I just— Of course this is a lot more important.” His cheeks get red and Nico feels bad for getting short about it with him. There’s no sense in making everything personal. 

He lets out a breath, “You care about yours, I get it.” Nico grins then, “It’s fine.” 

“You sound like you don’t care about yours much at all. Is it ugly?” Levi jokes and Nico wants to laugh just for how off base he is. 

He scratches at his jaw and snorts, “I don’t have one.” 

Levi turns even redder then and buries his face in his hands muttering out a muffled, “Oh my god, please don’t fail me in ortho for being an idiot.” 

Nico laughs for real then, “How about you make it up to me by letting me take you out for a drink tonight?” It’s bold. There’s still no real basis for it, but Nico is _drawn_ to him. His whole body is magnetized to this ridiculous, bubbly intern, who is staring at him like a deer in the headlights now. His professional brain takes over then and Nico holds his hands up, “I’m sorry, that’s inappropriate—”

“Yeah! Yes, we can—” Levi shoves his hands into his lap, “We can get drinks.” 

There’s questions that linger in Nico’s mind—

_What about your soulmate?_

_Don’t you think I’m broken?_

_How long will you let me love you?_

 

X

 

“Maybe he wants to be with you because he’s a thinking, feeling human being that can make big adult choices without the guidance of some soul mark.” Link is on his way out the door and Nico hasn’t actually said anything to him. “Maybe his mark is platonic?” 

That’s what Nico keeps hoping for. It’s been six months. Six months of casually _hanging out_ with Levi because they don’t know how to advance this stupid tension between them. “I’ll see you around.” Nico sinks into the couch and stares ahead at the TV. There’s a show on about how textiles are made, but he’s not actively paying attention to it. 

Lately, every inch of Nico’s body hurts. It’s like his skin is in a constant state of pins and needles and his chest aches. His mom keeps telling him to swallow his pride and go see a psychiatrist about it— that it sounds like he has anxiety. Nico thinks he would believe her more if it weren’t for the blinding headaches he’s been getting, rattling around the back of his skull on an almost daily basis now. 

Nico closes his eyes and concentrates on his breathing. 

The front door opens again and Nico furrows his brows, “Link, can you turn off the lights?” 

“I’m not Link, but I can do that for you anyway.” Levi flips the switch and Nico cracks an eye open to look at him. 

“I didn’t know you were coming over.” Nico admits. 

Levi is wearing a hoodie and sweatpants and he looks so impossibly soft that Nico thinks he might start crying when Levi puts a takeaway cup of tea into his hands, “I was worried about you. Andrew said you had to call out of work again.” Levi curls up on the couch and drags the throw blanket around his own shoulders, unable to hide the shake of his body, “How’s your head?” 

Nico looks him over, “How’s your terrible circulation?” He’s trying to joke— this has been Levi’s own battle. The constant state of freezing cold that has him wearing scarves indoors. 

Levi leans his cheek against the couch and grins, “Bailey says my circulation is fine.” He shrugs, “She wants to run neuro tests in case the shivers are the onset something else.” 

“We’re a mess.” Nico takes a sip of his tea. It’s perfect— mint with two honeys and a splash of milk. 

“Sure are.” Levi sniffs out a laugh, then he leans forward a bit, “Can I sit closer to you? I kind of want to leech your body heat.” 

It’s nervous in the way he asks, and Nico holds his arm out so that Levi can tuck himself into his side. Nico places his cup on the coffee table and sighs, running his fingers down the length of Levi’s spine. It makes Levi shiver and wrap his arms tighter around Nico’s waist. 

For the first time in days, Nico falls asleep. 

 

X

 

Nico’s put on lab duty while he’s still on the verge of dropping dead from a mystery illness. 

He likes working with Koracick though, and he laughs when Tom tells him the raunchiest story he’s ever heard in his life. Tom has a soul mark. It’s dark and geometrical right on the inside of his forearm. His soulmate died though, and the black lines are raw and furious red around the edges. Like a brand that won’t heal. 

He doesn’t look at Nico with a barely veiled sympathy. 

“You should let me poke around in your brain.” Koracick points a replica mandible at Nico, “I bet we’ll find alien tech in there.” He winks then. 

“You’ve never seen anything like this?” It’s a little worrying, hearing from a seasoned neurosurgeon that his problem is unheard of. 

Tom shrugs, “Wouldn’t know, you won’t let me see it.” He digs a freeze dried blackberry out of a silver bag then, “I’ve seen tumors, parasites, bruises, bleeding, etcetera, etcetera. Listen, son, you’re fine. That’s Schmitt kid though? Blood’s not my bag.” 

This is what they’ve become. The two walking medical disasters without a diagnosis and rogue symptoms that make no sense. “You think something’s wrong with his blood?” Nico is more concerned about Levi’s health than his own. More shrugging from Tom. 

“I think his is _magical_.” Tom bats his eyes, “There’s a nice young man out there, very close by with that little matching mark and his body is all alight.” He wiggles his fingers in the air. Nico’s whole body feels numb now and he grits his teeth, blinking down at the desk. “You were hoping he would love you despite that, huh?” 

Nico reorganizes the slides in front of him, “It doesn’t matter what I want.” 

His vision is swimming. “Very big of you, Dr. Kim. You’re a hot tamale though, I doubt you’ll be lonely with the rest of us schlubs for long.” Tom hums and he moves Nico’s chart in front of him, “Oh, you put all the variables into class identification, you are an entire angel. Feel free to hang out in here all the time with me.” 

“I think I need—” Nico pushes his stool away from the table, “I’m gonna get some water, I’ll be—” he sways and Tom’s head snaps up quickly. 

“Woah, woah, hang on—” Koracick rushes around the table, but he doesn’t quite make it to Nico before his vision whites out and he hits his head on the filing cabinet beside him. 

 

X

 

Nico’s head hurts. Not in the way it’s been hurting, but in a stinging, throbbing sort of way. In a ‘just hit it on a metal corner’ kind of way. He winces when he tries to open his eyes and he can hear Bailey’s voice just a little too loudly. 

“There he is! Welcome back, Dr. Kim.” She’s standing next to him and Nico realizes he’s in a hospital bed. 

“How long was I out?” His voice is grating in his throat and he winces. 

Koracick leans over into his view and smiles wide and ridiculous, “Couple hours now. You really scared the shit out of me, kid. There was blood everywhere, I told you that’s not my thing.” 

Nico brings his hand lightly up to the side of his head, over the patch shaved along the side until his fingers brush against the spiked edges of stitches, “Had to give you a little bit of a haircut there, sorry.” Bailey wines apologetically, and Nico follows the line of his hair all the way around the side of his head. “Hell of a place to have a soul mark.” 

The words freeze up in Nico’s veins, “I— What?” 

Bailey looks confused, obviously worried that the head trauma cause more damage than she though, “Your soul mark, I’ve never seen one on a person’s scalp before. You have such dark hair, it’s no wonder I could never see it.” 

Nico forces himself to sit up, only slightly dizzy compared to the way he’s been feeling for the past few weeks, “I have a soul mark?” His voice sounds small and Tom claps his hand on his shoulder. 

“Sure do. You’ve got a whole soulmate we had to lock in the board room too. Didn’t want him jostling you too much while we were stitching you back together.” He winks and shoots him some finger guns. 

Bailey looks between them, “You didn’t know about your mark?” She levels an angry look at Tom, “You knew he didn’t know, Tom—” She shakes her head, “It doesn’t matter. I’m letting Schmitt out of the board room before we get taken to task over what a fire hazard that is.” 

Koracick is scrolling through his phone when he dismisses Bailey with a grunt. Nico tries to breathe. “I have a— why is Levi in the board room?” 

Koracick looks up over his phone, “The filing cabinet did a real number on you.” He turns the screen to Nico, “Check it out.”

There’s a row of stitches, neatly done up over the curve of Nico’s ear and right above it is an unscathed brown mark. A familiar twist of lines in a floral shape that Nico has spent months aching to touch. A mark he never thought he would be able to, on his own body. Nico brings his fingers to the spot that it is. 

When the door clicks open, Owen Hunt is using what looks like his entire body strength to hold onto Levi’s upper arm. Ordinarily, Nico would laugh at an ex-military man struggling to contain an intern easily six inches shorter than him, but right now in this moment, it takes Koracick leaning down on his chest to keep Nico from climbing out of the bed. 

“You’re still concussed big guy, take it easy.” He takes his phone back from Nico. 

“Hey, listen to me, he’s a patient—” Hunt says it in his very serious army voice and Levi _whines_ like he’s a trapped animal. “Slowly!” He cries out when Levi wrenches his arm free. 

There’s nothing slow about the way Levi throws himself over the safety bar on Nico’s bed, wrapping his entire being around him. Nico brings his arms around Levi’s back and turns his face into Levi’s hair. “I knew it—” Levi’s voice is muffled and shaking where he’s hidden in Nico’s neck, “I knew it was you, I could tell, I could—” He’s frantic, and there’s a hot slide of tears against Nico’s skin. 

“Hey,” Nico pushes at Levi’s shoulders so that he can see him. His hair is a disheveled wreck, and his wide eyes are red rimmed and watery, and he looks perfect, “God, I love you.” 

It’s like breathing for the first time in half a year. All the tightness in his chest uncurls and Levi let’s out a tiny gasp that comes out like a hiccup and presses his lips softly against Nico’s. “I love you too.” He says it quietly, right into a kiss. 

 

X

 

Nico’s yelling at a football game. Not because he actually cares about this particular match, but because it makes Link turn absolutely feral to hear it. He stands in the air and whoops loudly at a touchdown and Link swears. 

“Kim, what the— You’re a real asshole, you know that?” Link wields the entire bowl of chips at the screen, fire in his gaze and Nico collapses back onto the couch and laughs. “Are you trying to put me in an early grave?” 

“Sure am.” He grins and kicks his feet up on the table. 

“Hey,” Levi is on his way back into the bedroom to study, with his arms full of snacks. He sidetracks towards the couch and dumps his loot onto Nico’s lap, “Be nice.” 

Link gestures to Levi, “Thank you! See, listen to Schmitt, he’s on my side.” 

Levi practically seizes up, “Don’t push it.” He warns Link, and then he leans forward and kisses Nico softly, pushing his fingers into Nico’s hair, brushing over a mark that only he gets to touch now. It’s not visible anymore, but there’s something about the secrecy of it that feels more intimate when Levi seeks it out. “Have fun.” He grabs a sleeve of Oreos and presses another kiss to the corner of Nico’s mouth one last time before disappearing into the room.


End file.
